Improvement in refrigerating and ventilating apparatus



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

BENJAMIN F. SMITH, OF NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA, ASSIGNOR OF ONEfHALF HIS RIGHT TO G. L. LAUGHLAND, OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN`R`EFRIGERATING AND VENTILATING APPARATUS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 117,572, dated August l, 1871.

To all @cham it may concern:

Be it known that I, BENJAMIN F. SMrrH, of New Orleans, Louisiana, have invented a new and Improved Refrigerating and Ventilating Apparatus, of which the following is a description, reference being had to the annexed drawing and to the letters of reference marked thereon, and in which- Figure l is a vertical sectional view of my improved refrigerating apparatus; and Fig. 2 is a top or plan view of the same.

A represents a colinnn, box, or tube, of almost any required form, and constructed of sheet metal, extending from the top to the bottom of the room, vessel, or chamber in which it is to be operated, and it is also the receptacle into which I place, through a suitable opening at or near the top, the ice or other chemicals or cold air required to make' the cold or freezingmixture. The bottom of this receptacle, which is hermetically closed, is placed within a shallow wooden vessel, represented on the drawingby B. This said shallow wooden vessel receives the liquid condensed from the warm moist air by reason of its contact with the outer surface of the ice-chamber aforementioned, whence it is drawn off at'pleasure by means of the self air-sealing, curved, or siphon-shaped pipe inserted at or near its bottom, as shown at O. There is likewise a pipe, D, inserted at or near the bottom ofthe cold or ice-chamber, provided with a stop-cock, and which serves the purpose of withdrawing all or any part of any liquid which may be accumulated in this chamber. The cold or ice-chamber above mentioned is separated from lateral contact with the room or place in which it is to be operated by a wooden casing, F, and it is likewisenseparated from said wooden casing by an intervening air-space of one or more inches in width. This casing or diaphragm F is perforated with one or more openings both at the top or at the bottom. of the room or vessel in which it is used, as indicated by g g.

The upper perforations admit the warm moist air emitted or evolved from the substances with which it has come" in contact and allow it to impinge against the surface of the cooling-chamber, whereby its moisture is condensed to a liquid and falls from its own natural and superior gravity to the shallow wooden vessel above described. The air, which has thus obviously become dry and cold, naturally and likewise by its Specific gravity falls to the bottom of the intervening space separating the cold chamber from the wooden partition or casing herein described, and thence passes throughthe lower openings to the room or space adjoining, where it will again become impregnated with moistures or impurities, to be again passed to the condenser or cold chamber, and thus will the operation continue until all the moisture is extracted from the substances to be preserved.

In this manner I am enabled to preserve perishable substances for a long period of time, even in a climate the temperature of which may be from 900 to 1000 Fahrenheit, and at a saving or economy in the expense of ice as compared with the expense by the usual and ordinary methods of at least seventy-five per cent.

For ventilatin g and air-purifying purposes the lower part of the intermediate or intervening space between the cooling-chamber and the diaphragm aforesaid may be filled with a sponge or any other porous substance, and this substance saturated with carbolic acid or any other equivalent disinfectant, or the said porous substance may be saturated with cologne or other aromatic liquids, and thus be made instrumental to purify and perfume the air of a sick room, or to restore the natural moisture of the air in the room, of which it has been deprived by the operations above described. In the application of my device for the purpose of ventilation and the preservation of air in a pure and healthy condition in a room to be occupied or inhabited, the porous substances to which reference has been made in the foregoing sentence may or may not be used, as occasion demands, without in any manner whatever deviating from the general principles ofmy invention, or without in any degree impairing its efficiency for the purposes for which it is intended and herein described.

Vhat I believe to be new, novel, and useful, and for which I desire to obtain Letters Patent, is the following:

The receptacle A with stop-cock D, when placed within the vessel B which is provided with a siphon, C, in combination with. the diaphragm F having openings g g', when said diaphragm is so placed as to leave an air-space between it and the receptacle A, as and for the purposes described.

BENJ. F. SMITH. Witnesses:

H. N. JENKINS, L. I. OLMsTEAD. 

